Hello my name is Meghan Pelletier, I am asking for help because my son was recently injured. A little backstory, on the night of June 17th, I got a phone call at work at 1:55 in the morning that my son got burned and I needed to leave work and meet them at the hospital, I rushed out and made it to the hospital in 10 minutes by the time I got there he was screaming so loud that the moment I ran inside the ER I could hear him. We were transferred to Shand's pediatric hospital in Gainesville roughly an hour and a half away from our home. He had second and third degree burns to his abdomen, back hip and leg. In the middle of the night, which is not something he usually does, he got up and started getting into things. He moved a dining room chair from the table to the hutch we have in the dining room where we kept an electric lighter to light candles, mind you this hutch is well over 6 feet tall, the kind of lighter he got ahold of was the kind that just has a safety on/off switch with a button to spark the lighter, it is one that has an electrical current on it, at this point we believe he got it too close to his clothes which ignited his clothes. His shirt caught fire and we know that he took the shirt off himself, then woke his dad up by screaming, his dad ripped his pants that were still on fire off his body and immediately called me to tell me to meet them at the hospital. He was admitted that day with no indication on when we would be released. He underwent 2 surgeries the following week. Since this happened I had to take a Family Medical Leave of Absence(FMLA) at my job, which has drastically lowered the amount of hours I am working. I went from 40 hours a week to 36 hours every two weeks. I have applied for every type of assistance in my area just for most of them to tell me that my income- even with my cut in hours is too high for help or that there is no funding available. I also reached out to my retirement fund company, but the type of contract my employer has with them prohibits any kind of withdrawal or loan. I have called 211, my job, churches, and spoke with the social worker at the hospital, reached out to dcf, the electric company, my landlord- who is willing to work with me on time, but is not able to take off any late fees. My rent as it stands right now is $1,364.99 and that increases by $5 each day that I am not able to pay it. My electric bill is now at $1,166.73 because I am now 3 months behind. Now how that happened was the day he got admitted to the hospital was the day before my payday, which that paycheck was meant to pay June's electric bill, but because we couldn't get into the Ronald Mcdonald house until that following Monday (6/23/25), I ended up needing to use some of that for gas, hotel stays, food for myself, his dad and my daughter. During the time of us being at the hospital my daughter could not spend the night with us there so one of us had to go to the hotel each night with her as it was too far to keep driving back and forth to our house. During this time my son was also diagnosed as autistic, which means a whole new road of therapies and things I need to look into. I posted asking for help before but I am now going to every last option I can try. I am not one to beg for help as I usually do what it takes to make things happen but I am now in a position of not knowing which way to turn. It is summer in Florida and I cannot risk losing my home or my electricity. I am putting this amount to help with what I am behind on and next month's bills as I am not expected to go back to work until August 1st. My son now needs physical therapy, and will need occupational therapy once we can focus on getting him help for his autism. Now during all of this DCF also opened an investigation due to his age, injury and diagnosis. They have found my children to not be in 'imminent danger', but are recommending we do a few things such as my daughter going to therapy, adding motion alarms in the home, buying lock boxes, all of which we are willing to do but don't really have the funding for. Now I know that I cannot have my electricity off in the Florida heat, as it would end up way too hot for any of us to survive in. My last paycheck was $163.00 and his was $566. Which is obviously not enough to cover either of those bills along with gas for our cars, our other bills, and food for the children. We still have a phone bill, car payment, car insurance, and trash bill to worry about, but my main worry is our home.

At this time these are the bills that are currently past due,

-Rent- $1364.99 plus $5 each day.

-Electric $811.66 (past due, the total is $1,166.73 with August bill added)

Come August 1st, these bills will increase for the next months cycle.

I have tried everything, I have begged and pleaded. I need a miracle.

I am asking for $5,000 so I can get caught up and pay the bills that will be coming next month so we can get through his treatments, and therapies before I am able to return to work full time.